


Still Burns

by Brightknightie



Category: Pokemon GO
Genre: Estrangement, Friendship, Gen, Team GO Rocket (Pokemon GO)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:40:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25563736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brightknightie/pseuds/Brightknightie
Summary: Just before the first Team GO Rocket invasion, Candela and Charmander go to train at the Ponyta field.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	Still Burns

_Early November 2019_

“Charmander, dodge!” Candela yelled.

It was too late. Her Charmander couldn't get out of the way. Arlo’s Shadow Gyarados let loose a Hydro Pump boosted to unnatural levels by Team GO Rocket’s twisted science. Her little orange fire-type fainted in a pool of water lit only by the moon high overhead.

Candela held up his pokéball. “Charmander, return.” She wished she hadn’t put him in this situation. She wished she’d had a clue what was waiting for them tonight.

She wished he’d get in his ball. Stubborn Pokémon! Why wasn’t Charmander getting in his ball?

Candela started to panic.

  
_Earlier_

As soon as she’d dried her dinner dishes, Candela pulled on her coat and grabbed Charmander’s pokéball. She all but bounced out the front door. A lovely fall sunset awaited her. And she’d been cooped up all day working on the looming threat from Team GO Rocket, with its cheeky grunts, mysterious components, and unsettling leaders.

When and how had the notorious Team Rocket followed Professor Willow and his assistants into this strange region with no native Pokémon of its own — this Earth, which its inhabitants called “the real world”? Blanche had been gathering and analyzing data. Spark had been comforting those who had encountered Team GO Rocket, people and Pokémon alike. Candela wanted to do something, anything, to put it all back to rights! Yet such human-made crises always came down to motivations, Candela understood, and she didn’t need to ask _why_ the criminal organization had come. Wild Pokémon from almost every known region roamed here, in huge numbers, unprotected, even unseen by most of the locals. Luckily, they had Team Valor, Team Instinct, and Team Mystic to protect them now. 

Candela took a deep breath. It would help, not hurt, to take this break. She should invest the time to be present, to enjoy the bright sunset overhead and the crackling leaves underfoot. Then she could return, refreshed, to the problem — and hit it harder than ever. She threw the pokéball in her hand. “Charmander, I choose you!”

“Char!” Her buddy came out to play.

“Want to work on your Ember attack?”

“Char! Char!”

“Cool. Race you to the Ponyta field?”

He looked suspicious. “Mmmmmander.”

Charmander’s caution reminded Candela of her and the professor’s sighting of Arlo at that very field. As much as the decrypted photo revealing Arlo’s betrayal had upset her, seeing him in person, surrounded by Pokémon suffering the Shadow state he’d inflicted on them, had brought her back to herself. Team Valor trained to enhance a Pokémon’s strength naturally. Team Rocket stole that power through toxic artificial shortcuts. Her once-dear friend Arlo had chosen to become a traitor to everything she’d thought they both believed. It had made her blood boil. But she’d harnessed her passion to the greater good.

“They won’t come so close to the lab again,” Candela told Charmander. Arlo had already kidnapped most of the herd for his vile experiments; nothing remained to draw him. Thinking of that outrage got Candela’s dander up, but she smiled gently at her buddy. “You can have a head start…?”

“Mander!” he chugged off down the lane.

Candela followed at a jog. She could easily outrun the little lizard Pokémon, but what was the fun in that? She liked to win, oh, yes, indeed she did, but not at the expense of a friend’s feelings. You don’t switch in a pseudo-legendary on a first partner, you don’t pit an unranked Trainer against the Champion, and you don’t win a league match with both shields unused. You have to show the respect you feel.

That lesson had been hard for a passionate child to learn. As an adult, she worked every day to make her emotions a source of strength. Her commitment to that work was how she’d earned the role of Team Valor’s Leader.

Coming up on the rocky outcrop frequented by fire horse Pokémon, Candela confirmed that nothing flammable had bloomed or blown in since it was last trampled under their flaming hooves. This was a perfect place for Charmander to run around and practice his quick move. She’d been using it to train ever since she and her coworkers set up the lab here. Trainers and kids from the area had often joined her on weekends.

Oddly for a weekday evening, though, someone sat on the highest stone, watching the sun slip behind the horizon.

“Hello!” Candela called. “Don’t mean to disturb you! We were just—”

The figure turned.

“Arlo!” Candela stopped short.

Her one-time Team Valor comrade curled his lips.

Keeping her eyes on Arlo, Candela gestured for Charmander to come back to her; the little fire-type huffed and stood his ground. “We relocated the remaining Ponyta. There’s nothing here for you anymore. Unless you’ve come to make amends?”

Arlo stood. He flexed his right hand around an ultra ball. “You never understood me.”

  
_Now_

“Charmander, return!” Candela said again.

Charmander didn’t even twitch. The puddle under him glinted in the moonlight.

Arlo laughed.

Part of Candela wanted to smash her fist into Arlo’s nose to stop the sound. Part of her might even imagine unleashing the legendary Moltres on him, personally, not on his Pokémon, an unthinkable violation of custom and tradition. But those parts weren’t in control. Calmest under fire, Candela ran onto the pitch, straight to her Charmander.

“That’s a forfeit,” Arlo sneered. “Match to me.”

Actually, it was a safety halt. Explaining rules to Arlo had never gone well. Even in their happiest days as teammates, he’d always seemed to feel somehow above the rules.

Candela knelt beside Charmander. Was he breathing? She couldn’t tell. “Stay with me, buddy! I’ll bring you berries and candy.” 

She heard Arlo recall his poor Shadow Gyarados and leave, surely to the latest Team Rocket hideout. She didn’t care about him or them right now.

“Want some stardust, huh?" Charmander was so wet. Candela took off her coat, wrapped him in it, and tried to pat him dry.

His tail fire sputtered.

“No!” Her kit was back at the lab. Too far. Arlo had caught them unawares. They needed a Max Revive. Any Revive. Or a power-up. “Charmander, come on! Please.”

The end of his tail barely glowed.

Tears filled her eyes.

“Hey, buddy,” Candela rubbed the top of Charmander’s nose. “I choose you. I always choose you.”

Was that…? Did she see…? Yes! The little guy’s orange eyelids fluttered. Suddenly, he burped. His tail flared, again burning off the inscrutable metabolic waste of Pokémon fire-breathing. Charmander would live.

Candela touched her forehead to his. Then she carried him home.

Arlo was right. She hadn't understood the Team Rocket Leader before. 

Now, she understood all too well.

**— end —**

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer.** This is fanfiction of _Pokémon GO _. Please don’t mistake it for anything else.__ ____
> 
> __**Beta-reading.** Thank you, Sharpest_asp and Malinaldarose, for the reassurance! I appreciate it very much! _ _
> 
> __**Inspiration.** I’ve been playing PoGO since August 2016 (hit Level 40 in March 2018). I’ve been writing fanfiction ... longer. This is the first time these hobbies have come together for me. (I actually started this piece before the first Rocket Invasion and got Jossed, as we used to say. I’ve since adjusted it.) _ _
> 
> __**Thank you for reading!** Please let me know what you think. How can I do better next time? _ _


End file.
